1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a clamp for use in a wire harness and more particularly to a clamp for use in a wire harness which allows the wire harness to be removed easily from a vehicle body for replacing the wire harness wired thereon and disassembling the vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Substrate-type clamps and band-type clamps have been proposed for fixing a wire harness to a vehicle body. FIGS. 23A-23C herein show a substrate-type clamp that has a substrate 2 and a clamping part 3 formed integrally of synthetic resin. The clamping part 3 has a vane 3a and a locking step 3b is formed at the tip of the vane 3a. The substrate 2 is mounted on the periphery of a wire harness W/H with a tape T and the vane 3a of the clamping part 3 is inserted into a locking hole 4a of a vehicle body 4. Thus, the locking step 3b of the vane 3a is locked securely to the peripheral edge of the locking hole 4a at the back side of the vehicle body 4. Accordingly, the wire harness W/H is locked and fixed to the vehicle body 4 with a large force.
A band-type clamp has a band-fastener with a clamping part. A vane is formed on the clamping part and a locking step is formed on the vane. The vane is locked to the locking hole of the vehicle body to fix the wire harness to the vehicle body in a manner similar to the substrate-type clamp.
The wire harness may have to be replaced in a manufacturing process and may have to be exchanged when the wire harness has trouble during use. Additionally, there are increasing demands to design vehicles for easy disassembly so that parts of a vehicle can be reused or recycled when all or part of the vehicle has reached the end of its useful life.
For the above-described reasons, the wire harness must be mounted securely on the vehicle body during normal usage by providing secure locking forces between the clamping part and the vehicle body. However, the clamping part also must be capable of easy removal from the vehicle body when necessary.
Various clamps have been proposed for easy removal from the vehicle body. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 234869 and FIG. 24 herein show a clamp with a substrate 80 for mounting on the wire harness W/H. A concave part 81 is open at the tip of an axial projection from the substrate 80. Vanes 82 project from both sides of the concave part 81 and a locking step 86 is formed on each vane 82. A pulling cord 84 is connected to both sides of the concave part 81 and can be pulled away from the vehicle body 85. As a result, both sides of the concave part 81 flex towards one another, and the vanes 82 flex inward to unlock the locking step 86 from the locking hole of the vehicle body.
The clamp shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 234869 and FIG. 24 requires the pulling cord. Thus there is an increase in the number of parts. Additionally, the pulling force is applied only to the concave part, and hence a large force is required to unlock the clamp from the locking hole. Thus it is difficult to disassemble the vehicle body. Such being the case, the clamp disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 234869 has room for improvement.
The invention has been made in view of the above-described problem. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a clamp for use in a wire harness capable of decreasing a pulling force for removing the wire harness from a vehicle body.